It is all go in the garden and we approach the summer. Most of my seeds have been sown and there are some that still need to be done. I’ve tried to stick with the plan, so I have all that we need to last the year. With our needs taken care of I can start to think of the needs of others in a more whimsical way.
There is nothing like seeing those lovely orange Monarch Butterflies wafting through the garden, enjoying the flowers in the garden. If these graceful creatures show up in the garden, you really want to encourage them to stay. You can do this in a couple of ways – planting nectar rich flowers the butterflies love to eat. Growing swan plants for them so they can lay their eggs and give their young caterpillar offspring somewhere to grow big and fat, so they can move off onto the chrysalis stage and eventually become as graceful as their parents, floating about the garden.
Now is the perfect time to sow swan plants and this year it is more important than ever as last season there wasn’t enough and so many caterpillars went hungry. Our good friends at Yates are encouraging as many people as they can to sow as many swan plants as they can this October and during National Gardening Week (15 -22 October) they will be giving away butterfly friendly seeds, Which is pretty cool. You can check it out here: Yates National Gardening Week.
They also asked me to make a short swan plant planting guide, so I grabbed the wonderful Joey and we went into the temporarily plastic wrapped dome and made a video. You can check it out here:
Come again soon – we are in interesting times.
Sarah the Gardener : o)
I wonder if the fact that both swan plant and milkweed are poisonous to most animals could be the reason why the Monarchs food and habitat are being eradicated? Gardeners will have to find plants that are acceptable to the butterflies and stock and domestic pets. I have seen bees and butterflies on my Salvias and Borage plants. Well done to you and Joey for aiding the Monarchs. Loving Dome Videos, keep them coming. Laura
I also have a load of butterfly friendly seeds to sow so there will be something for everyone! : o)